Arizona Morning Briefing, 9-9-26: Turning Point Activists DeepFake Austin, Mayes Announces Charges Against Academy Del Sol, and Where Are The Biggs TV Ads?

We all knew that AI was going to play a role, large and small, in this fall’s campaigns. But some candidates are making savvier use the technology that will destroy us all than others.

•Over the weekend, Matt Whitmire and Mary Ann Mendoza, who KJZZ described as “conservative political activists working with Turning Point Action, posted images on X that indicated that Democrats, including progressive Mesa representative Lorena Austin, had joined something called “Democrats for Biggs,” indicating the Republican nominees for Governor, Andy Biggs, had somehow gained bipartisan support.

They were not. Austin told the Republic that “It was a generated deepfake of me that I did not consent to.” And “100% not me.” As KJZZ pointed out, Mindy Little of Turning Point action had posted a similar video of fake Democrats , not including Austin, the day before using Grok Imagine, saying “That’s a feature Elon loves to use.” They’ve taken the offending photos and videos down but haven’t forgotten them. A Biggs campaign spokesman, who may regret his current job choice, said, that the fakes were “not connected in any way to our campaign.”

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told KJZZ “Voters need to be wary that AI is a threat to reliable election information, particularly posted online,” Fontes said. “It’s not a new kind of thing for folks to try to manipulate voters with that information, but AI can do it in ways that seem reliable.”

•In more old-school election-type news, the Hobbs-Biggs TV spending gap has become an area of serious Republican concern. Arizona’s Family reports Hobbs has spent more than $10 million on television advertising, while Biggs has yet to launch a traditional broadcast-TV campaign. In a newsletter, Arizona GOP Chair Sergio Arellano acknowledged complaints from party activists and said “more ads are on the way.”  Former state GOP chair Gina Swoboda publicly argued that maybe it’s time to start spending. The report also anticipates a seven-figure outside buy, without identifying the spender. Biggs simultaneously released a new campaign ad Tuesday, “Livelihood,” featuring northern Arizona rancher Casey Murph and attacking Hobbs over a proposed solar development. Biggs’s own release does not say what media are carrying it or disclose a buy amount. Maybe they can air it at 1:30 during the I Love Lucy/Matlock/Murder She Wrote block!

•The state announced charges against former Tucson Academy Del Sol charter school executive director Jason Riegert alongside his wife, Staci Barton, and former office administrator Kimberly Richards. The 22 felony charges include conspiracy, theft, misappropriation of charter-school funds, fraudulent schemes, computer tampering and forgery. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the AG office helpfully pointed out. The indictment alleges misuse of more than $100,000, including more than $25,000 in state education funds, with money allegedly routed through a purported company called Platinum Educational Solutions and spent on such things as home improvements, restaurants, plastic surgery, a Cadillac Escalade and travel. Academy Del Sol continues to operate two Tucson K–8 campuses and is enrolling for 2026–27. No word on whether or not they’re still using the Escalade.